GRAND FORKS — The UND athletic department officially announced Friday afternoon the university would opt in to the NCAA vs. House settlement, a landmark legal case paving the way for direct payments from schools to athletes.

UND athletic director Bill Chaves said UND communicated its intent to opt in with the NCAA on Friday, June 27.

“As an NCAA Division I member, in a non-defendant conference, our thought process has always been to do what is best for our student-athletes and the University of North Dakota,” Chaves said. “With the information that we have today and the requirement to make a decision by Monday, June 30, we felt that this was the most prudent course of action. There was always a chance that when the final settlement occurred that it could be different than what was initially provided by both the plaintiffs’ and defendants’ attorneys and sure enough that was the case.”

The country’s largest schools, those competing in the power conferences such as the Big Ten, must opt in to the House settlement. UND, however, is among those smaller NCAA departments around the country mulling the decision on whether to join the settlement.

Prior to UND’s decision, South Dakota and South Dakota State announced intentions to opt in to House vs. NCAA. North Dakota State has yet to announce a decision with a June 30 deadline.

Chaves told the Herald on June 11 the university was leaning toward opting in after concerns about roster sizes were eased with the ruling’s last-minute language on grandfathering-in athletes impacted by the ruling.

“Given that roster grandfathering can only occur should institutions opt in at this moment of time, we believe that opting in is best for UND,” Chaves said. “Additionally, I believe the opportunity to expand our partnership with our teammates at the UND Alumni Association & Foundation, 1883 Collective and Ralph Engelstad Arena will provide us the best situation possible to our student-athletes this year and beyond. Further, the ability to potentially provide additional support through internal NIL will be intriguing for UND as we traverse this new era of college athletics.”

Roster sizes were an issue because the House settlement calls for a change from scholarship maximums to roster maximums. The terms of the settlement set a roster cap on each sport.

On Feb. 20, 2025, the Herald reported UND would opt out of the settlement in Year 1, with the possibility of opting in later. That stance changed in large part due to the grandfathering-in of impacted athletes.

UND is over the House-capped roster sizes in women’s track and field, softball, soccer and women’s golf. If the settlement had continued as originally depicted, UND would have likely had to cut athletes out of those sports immediately, potentially causing participation numbers to be non-Title IX compliant.

UND is at or under the roster limit in its men’s sports except for hockey, where the midseason addition of emergency goalie Aleksi Huson put UND at 27 players. The House settlement limits men’s hockey teams to 26.

Prior to the case being finalized, Yahoo Sports estimated more than 15,000 athletes across all Division I members could be cut, depending on how many schools opt in to the settlement.

The schools are instructed to use “good-faith efforts” to identify athletes who “were removed or would have been removed from the roster for 2025-26 due to the implementation of the roster limits.”

Those individuals won’t count toward roster limits for the rest of their eligibility. The guideline applies to current athletes, as well as incoming recruits. Schools have until July 6 to identify these athletes.

By Anthony Richards

A group of young volleyball players represented the area against teams from across the state as an under-13 team from St. Johns Volleyball Club won its division at the 52nd Annual AAU Girls Junior National Volleyball Championships in Orlando on June 13-16.

The team experienced adversity early on the first day of the event but bounced back in a big way and put the challenging start behind them to win all nine of their games over the final three days.

Held annually at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, AAU Nationals is recognized as the world’s largest volleyball tournament, drawing more than 6,800 teams and 70,000 youth athletes from across the United States and abroad.

For many clubs, including St. Johns Volleyball Club, it serves as the culminating event of the season.

What makes the team’s performance particularly noteworthy is that many of the players on the team only began playing volleyball within the past year and often compete against teams whose players have been training for two years or longer.

According to club owner and head coach Andor Gyulai, their rapid development reflects the club’s unique coaching model and training environment.

“Our system is designed to accelerate player growth,” Gyulai said. “With our grass court training model, we can set up more courts and create more repetitions and game-like touches for each player. Combined with our best-in-class Superior Coaching Systems, this leads to faster skill development and better long-term results.”

Founded in 2022, St. Johns Volleyball Club continues its rapid growth serving 4th through 8th grades in the Nocatee area and St. Johns County.

Earlier this year, the club expanded into high school beach volleyball with newly opened beach courts in Nocatee, and it also recently broke ground on a state-of-the-art indoor volleyball facility for both middle and high school players, scheduled to open in May 2026.

Tryouts for the 2025-2026 indoor club season will be held in July. More information about the club, programs, and tryout registration can be found at www.SJVClub.com.

NORTHRIDGE, Calif.—CSUN Track & Field’s junior Jay Louison-Roe received Academic All-District Team honors by the College Sports Communicators (CSC) on June 24. 

The CSC academic awards programs recognize the nation’s top student-athletes for their combined performances on the field and in the classroom. The academic qualifications for the distinction are a minimum 3.50 cumulative grade-point average. Nominated student-athletes must be ranked in the top-50 in the region in a single event (indoor or outdoor). Select Academic All-District honorees advance to the CSC Academic All-America ballot. First-, second- and third-team Academic All-America® honorees in four divisions – NCAA Division I, Division II, Division III and NAIA – will be announced in July. 

Originally from Heathcote, NSW, Australia, Louison-Roe had an outstanding first season with CSUN in 2025 after transferring from the University of Louisiana-Monroe. Louison-Roe would claim the triple jump title at the 2025 Big West Outdoor Championships, earning his first career conference crown of his career. His championship winning leap went for 15.67m (51-5), which set a personal record and ranked as the 10th-best in school history. Louison-Roe qualified for the NCAA West First Round for the first time in his collegiate career where he finished 31st overall with a leap of 15.37m (50-5.25). 

During the indoor season, Louison-Roe was fourth at the MPSF Indoor Championships in February with a leap of 14.72m (48-3.5). He would have a season-best leap in the triple of 15.32m (50-3.25), which ranked seventh-best in program history. 

An Economics major at CSUN, Louison-Roe claimed his first career CSC Academic All-District award this season. 

College Sports Communicators began the distinguished Academic All-America® program in 1952, and since then, has honored more than 38,000 deserving student-athletes from numerous sports across all divisions with these elite Academic All-America® scholar-athlete honors.

#GoMatadors

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – – Belmont University volleyball head coach Fritz Rosenberg released the program’s fall schedule Friday. 

The Bruins will face five Top 100 opponents from a year ago and have 14 regular season home matches at the Curb Event Center. 

“We’re thrilled to announce our fall schedule,” Rosenberg said. “There has been a great deal of anticipation surrounding the upcoming season and we cannot wait to embrace the challenge in front of us. Playing in Nashville three of the first four weeks of the season provides the opportunity to build momentum and confidence. Our non-conference schedule is designed to prepare us for the rigors of Missouri Valley Conference play – and peak come November. I’ve enjoyed building relationships with our players over the past few months and look forward to what lies ahead.” 

After an exhibition match at Chattanooga Aug. 23, Belmont will be part of college volleyball history Aug. 29 at Vanderbilt. It will mark the first volleyball match for Vanderbilt in 45 years. 

The match will be played outdoors on Wyatt Lawn at the Vanderbilt University campus. 

The Bruins then host five consecutive home matches – including Big East Conference member Seton Hall and former Ohio Valley Conference rivals UT Martin and Tennessee State. 

Belmont heads to the capital district of New York Sept. 12-13 for matches against Columbia, Stonehill, and host Siena. 

The Battle of the Boulevard series is renewed Sept. 19 as Belmont plays at Lipscomb. 

Belmont concludes non-conference play Sept. 20 vs. UC Irvine. 

The 16-match Missouri Valley Conference schedule commences Sept. 25 vs. Murray State. 

Other notable dates include a three-match homestand vs. Southern Illinois, Illinois State, and Indiana State Oct. 4-10 and the regular season finale Nov. 15 vs. defending conference champion and NCAA Round of 32 participant Northern Iowa. 

The 2025 MVC Tournament will take place Nov. 19-25. 

Belmont Volleyball season tickets, single-match tickets and group experiences are on sale now at 615-460-2255 and BelmontBruins.com. 

 

Buy Volleyball Tickets Here 

 

Follow Belmont volleyball on social media – @BelmontVB on Twitter and @belmontvball on Instagram – for complete coverage of the Bruins. Stay up to date with all of Belmont’s athletic programs via the official app of the Belmont Bruins, available both in the Apple App Store and on Google Play. 

  

 #ItsBruinTime 

Winners of its fifth consecutive WAC Commissioner’s Cup, Grand Canyon excelled outside of sports competition as well with 130 spring and freshman/transfer student-athletes honored on the Academic All-WAC list. 

This announcement follows the winter release, where 56 GCU student-athletes earned Academic All-WAC honors. That brings the university’s 2024-25 total to 275 recipients of academic honors. 

The spring sport All-WAC Academic list includes Lopes from baseball, softball, men’s tennis, women’s tennis, men’s outdoor track and field, women’s outdoor track and field, men’s golf and women’s golf. The freshman/transfer Academic All-WAC report includes all sports throughout the academic year. 

To qualify for the Academic All-WAC Team, student-athletes must have posted a cumulative GPA of 3.2 or higher, completed at least one academic year at the institution and participated in at least 50% of their teams’ competitions.

GCU’s spring Academic All-WAC honorees

Baseball (7)

• Emilio Barreras, junior
• Elijah Higginbottom, junior
• Chance Key, junior
• Isaac Lyon, junior
• Eli Paton, graduate
• Cannon Peery, sophomore
• Walter Quinn, senior

Softball (18)

• Taryn Batterton, junior
• Emily Darwin, senior
• Willa Ford, freshman
• Meghan Golden, senior
• Emily Gonzalez, junior
• Lovey Kepa’a, senior
• Savannah Kirk, sophomore
• Tinley Lucas, sophomore
• Sydney McCray, junior
• Mackenzie Nolan, sophomore
• Maggie Place, sophomore
• Alina Satcher, sophomore
• Macie Selfors, freshman
• Oakley Vickers, freshman
• Mia Weckel, graduate
• Briah Williams, freshman
• Haley Wolsky, sophomore
• Arianna Wright, junior

Men’s tennis (2)

• Andreas Loizas, freshman
• Paolo Rosati, junior

Women’s tennis (3)

• Gala Arangio, sophomore
• Dania Deaifi, junior
• Valentina Del Marco, senior

Men’s outdoor track and field (20)

• Strider Aston, freshman
• Rayan Belkheir, freshman
• Michael Conley, freshman
• Tristen Coyle, sophomore
• Michael Cunningham, junior
• Joshua Gittens, graduate
• Grant Hagaman, senior
• Matthew Hamilton, freshman
• Blayk Kelton, sophomore
• Conner Kittleson, junior
• Germaine Lemaitre, senior
• Francisco Marques, sophomore
• Daviciea McCartney, graduate
• Ben Moffett, junior
• Ryan Norton, junior
• Alex Rafferty, senior
• Miguel Rosario III, junior
• Jack Sindt, freshman
• Casey Tow, senior
• Cam Wilmington, graduate

Women’s outdoor track and field (21)

• Selah Akers, freshman
• Kennedy Benjamins, freshman
• Taliyah Booker, senior
• Camdyn Bruner, graduate
• Madison Gawthorp, graduate
• Madyson Goodman, freshman
• Taylor Hansen, freshman
• Eva Johnson, freshman
• Michaela Lewis, graduate
• Elli Ochoa, sophomore
• Madelyn Palmer, freshman
• Regan Parnell, sophomore
• Atena Rayson, senior
• Aaliya Rifort-Delem, graduate
• Treasure Rinaldi, junior
• Jazmine Scott, graduate
• Amanda Thrue, senior
• Hannah Watson, senior
• Jade Williams, freshman
• Megan Williams, junior

Men’s golf (4)

• Kiko Coelho, senior
• Matthew Diehl, freshman
• Gavin O’Neill, sophomore
• Tommaso Zorzetto, graduate

Women’s golf (5)

• Anci Dy, senior
• Jess Haines, sophomore
• Brenna Preap, sophomore
• Calynne Rosholt, senior
• Lena Tremouille, junior

GCU’s freshman/transfer Academic All-WAC honorees  

Women’s basketball (1)

• Ale’jah Douglas, graduate

Men’s indoor track and field (7)

• Rayan Belkheir, freshman
• Michael Conley, freshman
• Joshua Gittens, graduate
• Matthew Hamilton, freshman
• Justin Raines, senior
• Miguel Rosario III, junior
• Cam Wilmington, graduate

Women’s indoor track and field (9)

• Kennedy Benjamins, freshman
• Taliyah Booker, senior
• Taylor Hanson, freshman
• Michaela Lewis, graduate
• Aaliyah Rifort-Delem, graduate
• Maliyah Ross, junior
• Maria Sartin, graduate
• Hannah Watson, senior
• Jade Williams, freshman

Men’s swimming and diving (5)

• Alexander Edquid, freshman
• Omar El Sayed, freshman
• Dakota Kinder, sophomore
• Jasu Ovaskainen, sophomore
• Mario Perez Torrado, junior

Women’s swimming and diving (7)

• Hailey Bull, freshman
• Lauryn Caster, freshman
• Olivia Dolan, freshman
• Kaitlyn Logue, freshman
• Lacey Neighbor, sophomore
• Kate Van Zee, freshman
• Brooke Woeslaw, freshman

Men’s soccer (6)

• Ben Assane, graduate
• Nelson Gomez Rodriguez, junior
• Alan Hermitte, sophomore
• Hendrix Mota, freshman
• Bright Nutornutsi, junior
• Lalo Serrano, graduate

Women’s soccer (3)

• Samantha Amato, freshman
• Alex Sampson, graduate
• Mayu Yamamoto, senior

Volleyball (3)

• Aubrey Goodere, freshman
• Magdalena Juric, graduate
• Taylor Kubacak, freshman

Men’s cross country (4)

• Tristen Coyle, sophomore
• Matthew Hamilton, freshman
• Alex Saldamando, freshman
• Jack Sindt, freshman

Women’s cross country (5)

• Selah Akers, freshman
• Taylor Hansen, freshman
• Eva Johnson, freshman
• Madelyn Palmer, freshman
• Adria Wuerth, freshman

COSMO PREMIERES LGBTI ATHLETES: THE COURAGE TO BE VISIBLE

In the world of sports, where discipline and performance are everything, visibility remains an ongoing challenge. Breaking the silence is also a way of competing. As part of its social commitment, COSMO will premiere LGBTI Athletes: The Courage to Be Visible on Saturday, June 28 at 10:00 p.m. This special program features eight elite athletes and one journalist, all members of the LGBTI community, who share their personal and professional experiences and explain how we can all build a more inclusive sporting world.

In a direct and personal portrait, Víctor Gutiérrez (water polo player for the national team and Madrid MP), María Pérez (Olympic race walker and world and European champion), Javier Raya (Olympic figure skater), Patricia González “Peque” (women’s futsal Ballon d’Or winner), Alberto Lejárraga (first openly LGBTI  Spanish footballer), Xantal Giné (field hockey player), Daniel Naranjo (president and player of inclusive rugby team Madrid Titanes), Sara Peláez (basketball referee), and Raúl Granado (sports journalist) reflect on the importance of visibility and share what it means to be LGBTI  in environments that have often turned their backs on diversity.

“I came out, I chose to be myself, because I wanted my relationship with my partner to feel as normal as possible. I didn’t want to hide”, says Alberto Lejárraga, the first active professional footballer in Spain to come out as LGBTI. “I’ve been fortunate to live my life the way I want to, and that comes with responsibility”, he explains, speaking of his role as a public figure both in and out of sport.

In this original COSMO production, the athletes reveal why they chose to come out and what the process was like, from their immediate circles to the often unexpected media attention that tends to follow. They also discuss the reactions from fans, teammates, clubs, and federations; the fears and uncertainties they faced; and the support they received despite their doubts. They shed light on the barriers that still prevent many professionals from speaking openly about their identity or orientation, including online threats and the potential loss of sponsorships, particularly in high-profile sports like football.

The numbers show that there is still a long way to go before sport becomes a safe space for LGBTI individuals. Out of the 10,500 athletes who competed at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, only 193 publicly identified as LGBTI, a historic record but still a tiny fraction. In Spain, 64.5% of secondary school students have witnessed homophobic behaviour during Physical Education classes, and 33% have experienced it firsthand, even those who are not LGBTI. In fact, anti-LGBTI hate crimes are the most frequent hate crimes in the country. Between 2002 and 2021, 22.7% of such crimes, nearly one in five, were committed because of the victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Many of these assaults occurred at sporting events.

“The first time I was called a fag I was eight years old. The last time? Today, on Twitter”, says water polo player Víctor Gutiérrez. “The violence that we LGBTI people experience is something we’ve unfortunately come to normalize, because we’ve lived with it our whole lives. But that doesn’t make it right and we shouldn’t tolerate it”, he adds.

For all these reasons, the protagonists of LGBTI Athletes: The Courage to Be Visible highlight the importance of visibility and representation, particularly for younger generations. They also advocate for sanctions against all forms of LGBTI hate, whether in professional or amateur sports, and across all levels. Finally, they call on society as a whole to be part of the change by speaking out against all forms of discrimination.

COSMO premieres LGBTI Athletes: The Courage to Be Visible on Saturday, June 28 at 10:00 p.m. The show will be available on COSMO ON, COSMO’s video-on-demand service. 

COSMO ON offers subscribers, at no additional cost, the best international series, entertainment shows and movies, as well as exclusive premieres, previews and special events. Available on all of Spain’s main paid TV operators, COSMO ON’s catalog includes an average of more than 500 on-demand titles per year. In addition, the service also offers a section dedicated to COSMO’s original productions where our award-winning original short films stand out along with the original COSMO shows It Moms and We love Tamara.

COSMO is a leading pay TV channel available on all major Spanish platforms. The channel is part of the Hearst Networks EMEA portfolio, a leading media group that delivers programming to more than 76 million households in 100 countries.